Wild Yeast Ideas

A few months ago, a friend of mine posted about trying to capture some "wild" (actually local, not necessarily wild) yeast to use in his bread making endeavors. I pointed him towards The Mad Fermentationist, hoping I might help him be successful. Of course, revisiting Michael Tonsmeire's work sent me down the rabbit hole... Where I discovered Sui Generis Brewing and http://suigenerisbrewing.com, which I also shared with my friend.

For years, I have dreamed of cultivating yeast from my own yard in order to brew beer. Between hearing about relatively low success rates and the amount of time I actually have been spending on brewing the last few years, the idea has gotten shelved almost as soon as my mind has wandered to the topic.

Although I had not yet recommitted myself to brewing, watching Bryan's videos at Sui Generis got me thinking about local yeast again... My new "small batch" mindset seems perfect for a little bit of yeast experimentation!

Several types of berries are currently ripening around my yard, and I have always considered these when thinking of trying to collect local yeast:

• salmon berry (Rubus spectabilis - usually the first to ripen each year; very tart, even when ripe; rare to find fully ripened [red] berries - they are a favorite of the robins!)
• thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus - usually ripen following the salmon berry; red raspberry-like fruit; sweeter than salmon berry, but not super sweet)
• trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus - usually ripens in August, but is ripening early this year; the only blackberry truly native to my area; sweet and highly sought after, especially by wild berry snobs)
• red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium - usually ripens mid-summer; tart)

In late summer and early fall, I will also have access to:

• Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus - ripens late summer; large, juicy berries - extremely sweet; considered a noxious weed, and ill-favored by wild berry snobs)
• evergreen blackberry (Rubus laciniatus - ripens late summer; often intermingled with Himalayan blackberry; larger, seedy berries - tart; considered a noxious weed and not picked by anybody)
• evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum - ripens late summer/early fall; small black berries - sweet)
• salal (Gaultheria shallon - ripens in late summer/early fall; mealy berries - not much flavor; I have seen robins get "drunk" from eating extremely ripe salal berries in the fall!)
• Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa - ripens late summer/early fall; small, purple berries - tart)

Tonight, I decided to get the ball rolling. I boiled up a batch of weak starter (1.020 w/ ~8 BU; 100g DME/200ml water). My father-in-law gave me his old 22-quart pressure cooker (in all its yellow enamel splendor, complete with the 1980 sales receipt!), so I made plenty of starter wort and canned it in pint mason jars.